Protestors confront politicians at town halls megathread

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It's awful to not be able to have a discussion without interruptions.  They even interrupted a prayer which is most distasteful.  These so called protests are being engineered by wealthy donors as usual.  Politicians should still be showing up though.  It's their duty to listen to their citizens no matter how obnoxious. 

No, they're not.  My Congressman (Pat Tiberi) skipped a townhall with hundreds of people because he was too cowardly to answer his constituents' questions.  That's the sort of thing that pisses people off; it gives everyone the sense he's hiding something.  I imagine people start getting angry when 1) they know their Congressperson is bullsh**tting and B) when folks like Stivers and Tiberi refuse to answer questions from their own constituents (say what you will about Tom McClintock and Tom Reed, but at least they're answering questions).  Anyway, we ended up putting up a cardboard cutout of Tiberi   Two questions were definitely from Republicans: one person wanted assurances that "Trumpcare" would not be Obamacare-lite and the other was from a guy who supported Obamacare despite having a MAGA hat (he wanted the government to "keep its hands off my healthcare" and didn't seem to know Obamacare and the ACA were the same thing). 

Most Ohioans (in both parties) simply oppose repealing Obamacare even though it was originally absolutely despised in much of Ohio back in 2009/2010.  There's a reason Kasich wasn't worried about local backlash when he fought for Medicaid expansion and it isn't that he was planning to run for President (although that probably contributed to his decision to do so).  Most folks here know someone whose family is benifiting from the ACA and as a result, repealing it now would be about as popular as privatizing Social Security or repealing Medicare.  Even most rank-and-file Republicans (i.e. regular folks who aren't activists or politicians) are not too enthusiastic about doing so and smell a rat WRT the "repeal and replace" schtick.  Everyone around here knows the Republicans have no interest in replacing Obamacare with anything positive; it's just common sense.  Obamacare has been around long enough for people to get used to its benefits and once people get used to having healthcare, they understandably aren't too keen on the government randomly taking it away from them.

TL;DR: People aren't being recruited by liberal groups, they're pissed off that Congress is trying to take away millions of people's health insurance and are blatantly ignoring the will of their constituents.  The fact that they keep promising to "repeal and replace" despite having so little confidence in their joke of a proposal that they won't even defend it to their constituents is both deeply insulting and exactly the sort of thing that makes situations like this even worse.  Say what you will about Obamacare, but at least the Democrats had townhalls. Imagine if the Democrats said "we're passing some big healthcare overhaul, but our constituents aren't allowed to ask us about anything ever until we pass it, we're not going to give the CBC time to estimate its cost before we vote, and you should just trust us that everything will be hunky dory "  The tea-party protests would be nothing compared to how pissed folks would be! 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Well I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I used the eleventy billion dollar checks Deep State sent me through their ACLU front group to build a 50-foot tall tower out of ivory so that I could stand on the roof and tolerantly look down on all those suckers who work for a living.  But I only make fun of the white ones!  I don't see color  

I think I'll use the check I get for protesting Trumpcare in Chaffetz's district tomorrow to buy a bunch of Mexican flags and tell the students in the upper-level college course I teach (Hist #666) at The Atheist Institute for Islamic Studies to pledge allegiance to Mexico by each burning a bible in order to enrich their understanding of the joys of living what we NYT guest columnists like to call "the unpatriotic life."  Even before the checks, I'd already been living high on the hog after receiving tenure for publishing pretentious coffee table books.  If you haven't already, I'd advise purchasing a few to keep on display during cocktail parties next to your Secretly Conservative Black Friend™  

Perhaps you've even heard of some of my most celebrated works such as Confessions of a Self-Hating White Man: My Dream of a Post-White America, Blame America First: A Francophile's Answer to Patriotism, Girl Power: Putting Men in the Kitchen Where We Belong, Re$i$tance i$ Futile: The Ca$e for One Global Government, Self-Deportation: A Final Solution to the Appalachian Problem,  Take Their Money and Run: The Enlightened Liberal's Guide to Wealth Redistribution, and Don't Audit the Fed: If You Have to Ask, It's Because You Don't Need to Know.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to drive around in a limousine for an hour and pretend to care about poor people.  Of course, I don't actually drive myself anywhere; like any good liberal, I hired an illegal immigrant to do that for me.  How else am I supposed to sip my latte and eat tofu while listening to an audiobook of The Communist Manifesto when I'm on my way to a wedding between an 18 year old quad-gender polygamist and a humanoid entity self-identifying as a transgender female giraffe.  I have to pick up the wedding cake from an evangelical bakery!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Well I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I used the eleventy billion dollar checks Deep State sent me through their ACLU front group to build a 50-foot tall tower out of ivory so that I could stand on the roof and tolerantly look down on all those suckers who work for a living.  But I only make fun of the white ones!  I don't see color  

I think I'll use the check I get for protesting Trumpcare in Chaffetz's district tomorrow to buy a bunch of Mexican flags and tell the students in the upper-level college course I teach (Hist #666) at The Atheist Institute for Islamic Studies to pledge allegiance to Mexico by each burning a bible in order to enrich their understanding of the joys of living what we NYT guest columnists like to call "the unpatriotic life."  Even before the checks, I'd already been living high on the hog after receiving tenure for publishing pretentious coffee table books.  If you haven't already, I'd advise purchasing a few to keep on display during cocktail parties next to your Secretly Conservative Black Friend™  

Perhaps you've even heard of some of my most celebrated works such as Confessions of a Self-Hating White Man: My Dream of a Post-White America, Blame America First: A Francophile's Answer to Patriotism, Girl Power: Putting Men in the Kitchen Where We Belong, Re$i$tance i$ Futile: The Ca$e for One Global Government, Self-Deportation: A Final Solution to the Appalachian Problem,  Take Their Money and Run: The Enlightened Liberal's Guide to Wealth Redistribution, and Don't Audit the Fed: If You Have to Ask, It's Because You Don't Need to Know.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to drive around in a limousine for an hour and pretend to care about poor people.  Of course, I don't actually drive myself anywhere; like any good liberal, I hired an illegal immigrant to do that for me.  How else am I supposed to sip my latte and eat tofu while listening to an audiobook of The Communist Manifesto when I'm on my way to a wedding between an 18 year old quad-gender polygamist and a humanoid entity self-identifying as a transgender female giraffe.  I have to pick up the wedding cake from an evangelical bakery!

Indeed. I'd really love some directions of how I go about getting paid for my protests. Are there ads on Craigslist or something?

Well, you can always pick up an instruction packet the next time you stop by Planned Parenthood to buy tickets to watch a medically unnecessary abortion.  There should be sign-up sheet at the front desk right between the jars of preservative-free pickled stem cells and the PETA-approved leaping rabbit lapel pins

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/850387892144918530

I see Costello figured out how to have a townhall where there can't be any embarrassing footage.

Surely you have the resources to get fake ID for your traveling agitators.   And I doubt they will take away your cell phones.

You'd think so, but unfortunately George Soros only pays for our travel expenses   I guess the fake IDs were too expensive *shrug*

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

And let's not forget, some of these town halls are hosted by Senators who represent an entire state!

Again, we're talking about "paid" or "fake" protesters. It's a strawman to refer to anything other than that claim.

I addressed the out of district protesters being kept out of townhalls in Michigan and Missouri.  A move I applaud, your side seemed upset by it.

On the topic of Senators, answer me this:  Illinois has two democrat senators.  If every single republican voter in Illinois had contacted both Illinois Senators and urged them to vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch, do you think they would have changed their vote?  That's a very large percentage of their constituents, still a minority though.  What do you think?

Nope.  The majority of their constituents wouldn't vote for them if they did that.  And look what happened to Alan Dixon for voting for an arch-conservative Republican with no business being on the SC.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

And let's not forget, some of these town halls are hosted by Senators who represent an entire state!

Again, we're talking about "paid" or "fake" protesters. It's a strawman to refer to anything other than that claim.

I addressed the out of district protesters being kept out of townhalls in Michigan and Missouri.  A move I applaud, your side seemed upset by it.

On the topic of Senators, answer me this:  Illinois has two democrat senators.  If every single republican voter in Illinois had contacted both Illinois Senators and urged them to vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch, do you think they would have changed their vote?  That's a very large percentage of their constituents, still a minority though.  What do you think?

Nope.  The majority of their constituents wouldn't vote for them if they did that.  And look what happened to Alan Dixon for voting for an arch-conservative Republican with no business being on the SC.

Thank you.  I agree 100%.  Politicians don't get re-elected trying to please people who are unlikely to vote for them anyway.

The thing is that a significant number of the recent townhall protesters are independents and Republicans.  Are there some Democrats?  Sure.  But folks across the ideological spectrum were fiercely opposed to Trumpcare.